WUNRN
UK - FATHERS TO GET 6 MONTHS
PATERNITY LEAVE
15 September 2009
Gordon
Brown will tell union bosses that the plan will be implemented after
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson put it on ice because of the economic crisis.
Around 400,000 men a
year will qualify for the right to dramatically extended leave from April 2011.
At the moment, they
can only take two weeks off, an offer taken up by 60 per cent of eligible men.
By contrast, new mothers can take a year off.
As well as a sop to
the unions, the move will be seen as naked electioneering.
Labour strategists
believe a raft of extensions to parental leave implemented over the last decade
have been hugely popular with young working parents.
Essentially, the
reforms mean parents will be able to decide how to divide up a total of 12 months
of parental leave between themselves.
A mother going back
to work after six months off will be able to transfer the rest of her leave to
her partner.
They will be paid the
statutory rate of £123.06 a week up to the 39-week cut-off period for women, after
which the leave will be unpaid.
Ministers say the
move will help smash
The announcement will
be seized on by critics as evidence that the Government is caving in to pressure
from its union paymasters.
The plans have
angered bosses, who say extended rights for fathers will be hugely disruptive,
particularly for smaller firms.
In one survey,
two-thirds of employers said new paternity rights could cause them 'some' or 'significant'
difficulties.
The British Chambers
of Commerce expressed shock that the Government was implementing the plan just
as firms were struggling in the downturn.
'We have called for a
moratorium on all new employment legislation,' said director general David
Frost.
'There is absolutely
no guarantee that businesses are going to be back to full health by 2011. This
is going to be an administrative nightmare for businesses.
'It's going to be a
huge diversion for companies when they can least afford it.'
There is particular
concern over who will be responsible for policing the system. Government
documents suggest new fathers will be allowed to sign themselves off for six months
with no eligibility checks by the Government.
They should only be
entitled to take the time off only if their wife or partner has gone back to
work.
But the fine print of
the Government's plans reveal that no official checks will be made with the mother's
employer, prompting fears that firms could be conned by men whose partners have
not really returned to employment.
The documents state:
'There may well be a risk of fraud. The financial and time costs in the
verification process would be significant and are likely to outweigh the
benefit derived.'
Small firms will be
able to reclaim 100 per cent of the money they pay to fathers on paternity
leave, but larger firms will only get 92 per cent back.
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